Preparing for the Days of Awe
As we all know, this year began in great pain, growing horror, trauma. And then waves of grief. We absorbed it, were overwhelmed, but had to move on, living our lives in split screen. And so we have been ever since, the normal day to day next to the unimaginable. Israel and Gaza in some kind of death spiral - how can we help to save them from themselves and from each other?
In Ukraine, as I write this, so much loss, bravery. Having spent weeks there on a book tour many years ago - what gifts that experience afforded me - I may take news of them more personally than most, but we all anxiously watch and hope democracy will prevail.
And here at home, we face an election, a crossroads that presents its own kind of terror. We look to see how we can be a force for good, how we can serve the good, because that’s what we do, we serve. Offering you this yearly invitation to reflect through writing, to move toward understanding, empowerment, and some measure of healing, is one of the ways I serve.
The Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the High Holidays, gives us time for reflection to review the past year. When the month begins [Tuesday evening, September 3] you will find on this site weekly guidance and writing prompts to help you do the spiritual work the season affords as you prepare for a new beginning. I hope as Elul unfolds, you will find in these weekly posts something of value to light your way into the new year.
How to find a way into writing once again? I say to myself, as I’ve said to others for decades now, start with something small, one small thing, and patiently listen for the details to emerge. That’s how to write about large things. What will the coming year hold for us? Do I have the capacity, can I find the opportunities, to be a force for good? How do I lead with wisdom and discernment? How do I sustain my own courage?
Some who may read these words are old friends, many are unknown to me – together, over the course of the next weeks, we’ll be exploring ever-widening circles of our lives. It’s like davening in a minyan – each of us on our own, but each quietly offering companionable energy to the others. You may prefer to undertake this Elul journey solo, but let me suggest that you might want to invite a friend to write with you, to bolster your own resolve, commitment, to engage with this work, to “show up to the page.” Along the way you can discern which are stories and questions and vision you might want to share.
In these weeks there will be time to expand, to reflect, to find words, to remember the year which is coming to an end, the events and people who were most important, to look back on them and puzzle out – What happened? Who was I in that moment? How did I turn that moment for the good? Or not? What needs attention, perhaps healing, in my closest relationships? There will be time to look inward and time to look outward – How am I living in my body? Who am I in my community/ies, who do I want to be? Do my day to day actions and occupations reflect my values, encourage my passion? How am I engaged in the world? What do I want to give, how do I want to help and participate in healing? Prompts aplenty – enough to choose one a day; and don’t fret when you miss a day. As I am grateful for these words I’ve written, grateful to find my center again and the capacity to connect to it, I hope you will rest in gratitude for whatever words come through you.
One final word: In anticipation of using these materials and finding them valuable, please make an appropriate donation to Derekh.
My immeasurable gratitude to Rabbi Lisa Feld for her generous technical and editorial assistance in helping me offer these materials to you while balancing her own preparation to lead her congregants on the Yamim Noraim.